From Solo to 20 Tweens…Just Keep Swimming - A May 2018 TR

[DISbot]

Hello and


Please bear with this long-time lurker, first time trip reporter as we get started…

I’m Brittany, an almost 30-something who has been getting to Disney World more and more frequently over the past few years. I’m a computer engineer by day, and improviser/performer by night - so I tend to be all over the place. I love touring Disney differently each trip, and trying something new (although that gets progressively more difficult). I don’t do thrill rides, but for this reason I’m a huge fan of the “Disney coaster” as I can handle everything in the Disney parks except Tower of Terror. My all-time favorite ride is the Haunted Mansion, favorite meal so far is California Grill Brunch, and I will sing along to the Carousel of Progress every trip.

Pictured above are me and my mother – the reason for this trip.

This trip was one of the two “support” trips I used this year to justify renewing my annual pass. My mother teaches middle school chorus, and wanted to take her select choir to Disney World as their big field trip (they did NYC last year).

I am big on transparency even regarding financial aspects, as it’s much easier to plan trips if you have data to compare to, as well as the fact that I’m constantly crunching the numbers for “cost-saving opportunities” such as the Disney Dining Plan, so I will intersperse some spending data throughout the report and summarize at the end. I’m also interested in the “ideal/planned” vs. the “actual” of trips so bear with me (or skip past) the details below on what the plan for this trip was.

The plans:

The trip took place May 27 – June 1, with me enjoying some solo time in the park May 27-29 and operating as tour guide and trip coordinator May 29-31.

May 27 – All about Magic Kingdom
-Arrive at MCO 9AM
-Get to MK by 12PM
-Lunch at Plaza Restaurant 1:45PM (Changed to Be Our Guest in the week leading up to the trip)
-Happily Ever After Dessert Party 7:15PM

May 28 – Treat Yo’Self
-Rope Drop Flight of Passage at 7AM
-Grand Floridian Senses Spa Signature Package 11:30AM – 4:30PM
-Hollywood Studios
-Yachstman Steakhouse Dinner 8PM

May 29 – Treat Yo’Self Part Two + Bring on the munchkins!
-Amorette’s Cake Decorating Class 9AM
-Epcot
-Greet students at Disney Springs 7PM

May 30 – Epcot and Performing Arts Workshop
-Get students to the Disney Buses by 8AM
-Performing Arts Workshop 10:10AM-1:00PM
-Chaperone/Group Check-In 4:45PM Voices of Liberty Show
-Group Meet-Up 8:25PM to return to Pop Century

May 31 – Magic Kingdom
-Get first group of students to charter bus by 7AM
--PPO Crystal Palace Breakfast at 8AM
-Get second group of students to charter bus by 8AM
-Chaperone/Group Check-In 5:00PM Flag Retreat
-Group Meet-Up 8:35PM in the garden in front of Casey’s
-Happily Ever After 9:15
-Get on bus for overnight ride home 10:30PM

 

[DISbot]

Chapter Links

Chapter 1: Getting to Disney (The boring stuff)
Chapter 2: It’s a magical kingdom – downpour #1
Chapter 3: Hunger pains part 1
Chapter 4: What to do when you’re back too soon
Chapter 5: Dessert Party Review
Chapter 6: Flight of Rope Drops
Chapter 7: Senses Spa Review
Chapter 8: Hollywood and Yachstman
Chapter 9: Amorette’s Cake Decorating Class Review
Chapter 10: The chaotic check-in and room preps
Chapter 11: Dine and Dash
Chapter 12: Disney Springs playtime & the Giordano’s Quest
Chapter 13: Test track trip-up
Chapter 14: Performing Arts Workshop Review

 

[DISbot]

Chapter 1: Getting to Disney

I was scheduled to fly out the first thing Sunday morning, so our story begins the preceding Friday. I had been working with my mom to get special treats and plans organized for the students (with multiple trips to target, and many google documents). Their tickets had come in last minute, and I had tried to get the best possible fastpasses for each group of students for their stay.

I created an MDE account for each of the 6 groups (originally with the intent of them being able to modify/add fastpasses), and linked their tickets and fastpasses. We had little reference cards for each student with the schedules, and I drew up recommended touring plans for each chaperone.

IMG_20180526_113342 by Brittany Ransbottom, on Flickr

As I was scrambling to get my stuff together on Friday I decided that I could make cooling bands for all of the students and chaperones…so I spent most of Friday and Saturday at the sewing machine frantically trying to finish a task that should have been started at least a week prior.

Here is a stack of the bands – 22 Mickey and Minnie, and 6 Music Note bands for the chaperones.

IMG_20180526_133204 by Brittany Ransbottom, on Flickr

I finally finished them around 8PM Saturday and was able to cram everything into a checked bag (right around 45 lbs) and a carry-on backpack, so I could go directly to the parks if desired.

IMG_20180526_201505 by Brittany Ransbottom, on Flickr

Sunday morning I was up by 4:30 to hit the road. I was in the airport with my bag dropped at 5:36 and through security by 5:41 thanks to Pre-Check. I had to pick up two fuel rods for my mother and one of the students, as they were taking a bus down and preferred to pay the airport $20 rather than the parks $30 for a fuel rod.

I also grabbed dunkin donuts for breakfast. The Pineapple Coollatta sounded good, but was utterly disgusting. The Bagel was cream cheese was a stale bagel with cream cheese – about what was expected.

We finished boarding at 6:35, were in the air by 6:56 and touched down at the gate at 8:50. By 9:03, I was checked in to DME, at 9:14 I was here:

IMG_20180527_091900 by Brittany Ransbottom, on Flickr

We pulled away at 9:23, and by 9:45 we were here:

IMG_20180527_094531 by Brittany Ransbottom, on Flickr

 

[EvilVillainess]

Can't wait to hear how the trip played out with all those kids.

 

[DISbot]

Can't wait to hear how the trip played out with all those kids.

It was interesting... We came with 20 and left with 20 so everything worked out.
I also want to post some thoughts on coordinating large groups and some of the planning, as it was a beast compared to small groups.

 

[DISbot]

Chapter 2: It’s a Magical Kingdom, aka Downpour #1

By 10AM I had dropped my bag and was at the bus stop for a bus to the Magic Kingdom. The next bus was predicted for 10:03, and was there by 10:05, getting me to the Magic Kingdom by 10:17, and under the arches at 10:22. Overall, that was 1 hour, 32 minutes from plane to park…not bad at all!

IMG_20180527_102625 by Brittany Ransbottom, on Flickr

After a brief walk right down the middle of main street (well along the sides because the trolley singers were there!), I was greeted with the overcast castle seen above. Oh, this was foreshadowing the entirety of the trip, as it was only going to get worse…

I found my way to Tomorrowland, and in to Monster’s Inc Laugh Factory. The show was funny, as always (no Sam and Ella though – my favs). When I came out of the laugh factory, the skies had opened and were downpouring like there was no tomorrow. For some reason in my mind this translated to a need to get popcorn. I had always intended to get a refillable bucket on this trip as I could use it for this trip and my next trip, I just don’t know why getting food from a kiosk in a downpour was my idea of smart that day, especially since I hardly ate any popcorn over the next 6 hours…

The rain dash continued to…

IMG_20180527_112157 by Brittany Ransbottom, on Flickr

The Little Mermaid. This ride was virtually a walk on, and fortunately by the time I got off the ride the rain had slowed to almost nothing. At this point it was 11:27, and I had a 12:45 Haunted Mansion Fastpass. I decided to journey over to the Hall of Presidents, as I hadn’t been in there since the most recent refurb and changes. It was fine, and ate a fair amount of time, but since I still had some time to kill, I went to Memento Mori to drool over this dress…

IMG_20180527_123053 by Brittany Ransbottom, on Flickr

I couldn’t try it on, because I knew if I did and it looked good all my willpower to avoid the $100 dress would go out the window. The haunted mansion was as great as ever – and the ghosts even managed a successful face swap at the end (normally when I ride alone they have trouble finding me to perform their tricks).

I walked off the Haunted Mansion at 12:58, and at this point was very hungry. I had been up 8.5 hours, and my last meal was a relatively disgusting bagel 7 hours prior. Unfortunately, I had zero confidence in getting to the park this early, and had made a Be Our Guest reservation for around 2:30PM. Would I hold off until then? Or would I consider my alternatives?